Today, as SOWG Chair, I led the planning of activities for Sol 13 on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Our tactical planning team has been improving their efficiency and completing tasks on time, which allowed us to include more new scientific observations in our plan. I was fortunate to work with a top-notch science team, including Steve Squyres as the Geology Science Theme Lead. As the Principal Investigator of the science payload on the Mars Exploration Rovers, Steve has been a mentor to me while I worked with him on the Microscopic imager for the MER instrument arms. It was amusing to have a role reversal today, with me leading the science team instead of working under Steve’s guidance. Despite this change in dynamics, Steve reminded me that he is still my boss upstairs where the Opportunity mission is operated. With his expert support, we were able to develop a solid plan for Sol 13.
As we were in the midst of planning, we received news that the SAM instrument checkout scheduled for Sol 14 would need to be extended over two Sols. This was because the results of the first part of the checkout needed to be analyzed on Earth before proceeding with the second part. We knew that an additional Sol would cause delays and impact our overall schedule, so we worked quickly to incorporate the first part of the checkout into our Sol 13 plan. It was a challenging task, but we managed to make necessary adjustments and get it done within our deadline. The new plan was passed on to our second shift team who are now implementing it successfully.
